NFL scouting combine notes: Pat Shurmur isn't against trading up

INDIANAPOLIS -- In his season wrap-up last month, team president Mike Holmgren talked about "staying the course" and not making a quick fix for one season.

That, apparently, does not preclude trading picks 4 and 22 to move up in the draft April 26 for a dynamic player that could help the Browns for a decade or more.

Coach Pat Shurmur spoke on the podium during the NFL scouting combine on Thursday one day after meeting with reporters in Cleveland. On Thursday, he said the Browns would not "be hesitant at all" to trade.

"You evaluate everything," Shurmur said. "I wouldn't say we're hesitant to do anything. We're excited about the fact that we're going to make our team better with this draft. That's the way we approach it. We're not hesitant at all.

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"We can just stand pat and take two really fine players, guys that we would hope to be starters for us. Having two first-round picks, you have flexibility if you want to do something."

Most projections have the Browns swapping the fourth and 22nd picks to the Rams for the second pick so they could draft Baylor QB Robert Griffin III.

Heckert absent

In what has to be a combine first, Browns general manager Tom Heckert is not here. A team spokesman said Heckert is ill but his situation is not serious.

The Browns are well-represented, starting with team president Holmgren, Director of Player Personnel Jon Sandusky and director of college scouting John Spytek.

Heckert also was absent from the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., last month. He attended the Senior Bowl and the combine in each of his first two years as Browns GM.

Shurmur said he did not know if the two absences are related. He said he spoke to Heckert twice Thursday but doesn't know whether Heckert is in the hospital.

Heckert will be able to take part in interviewing players by skyping, Shurmur said. The Browns have scheduled 60 players to interview.

Browns check out Adams

Mike Adams, the starting left tackle at Ohio State for the past two seasons, says the Browns have talked to him about playing right tackle.

If draft projections are correct, Adams will be picked in the first round, which means the Browns would have to use the 22nd pick to get him, which means not trading the pick.

"A couple teams have talked to me about it -- Cleveland and Washington," Adams said on Thursday at the NFL scouting combine. "I'm open to do whatever a team needs me to do.

"Whatever team I go to, it's a blessing. Just to be in the position to even be drafted is something I can't even explain with words. As a little kid playing football since I was six, it's always been my dream. No matter where I go, I'll be just fine."

Adams, 6-foot-7, 323 pounds, was part of Tattoogate. He was suspended the first five games of 2011 but started the next eight. He started 13 of 13 games in 2010.

Adams was suspended for two games as a freshman for violating unspecified team rules. Adams said he learned from his mistakes and is hopeful teams will look past his transgressions.

"I've had some bumps in the road early in my career. But I've let those things build my character rather than break it down," Adams said. "My character is something my teammates and coaches at Ohio State will vouch for. Anybody who knows me knows I'm not a bad guy."

Tony Pashos started 12 games for the Browns at right tackle last season.

"We need to get better a lot of positions," Shurmur said. "Tony battled through the year pretty well for us. I've got a lot of respect for him. He pushed through some injuries that were not always obvious. I was not down on how he performed."

But when asked if Pashos is in the Browns' plans for next season, Shurmur made no promises.

"We'll have to decide how that goes at this point," he said.

Fins on Flynn

Tampering rules prohibit any team talking about potential free agents from other teams.

Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland was asked about Packers free agent to be Matt Flynn, who has started only two games in four years while playing behind Aaron Rodgers. The Dolphins are coached by Joe Philbin, the former Packers offensive coordinator.

"If you don't have much tape to watch, you keep watching it over and over again and try to find answers that way," Ireland said. "There's not much you can do. If you like him, you go get him. If you don't, you don't."

Flynn is the top-rated quarterback among the free agents. The Browns would like to make up their mind about Griffin and other quarterbacks in the draft before free agency begins on March 13.

Vikings want to trade

Vikings general manager Rick Spielman said he would like to trade the third pick in the draft.

"I'm not excited about being the three," he said. "That means you didn't have a very successful year. But to take advantage of that No. 3 is going to be huge for the success of our organization moving forward.

"With the new CBA and the financial commitment to the top five picks not as significant as it has been in the past, I think there will be a lot of potential movement, especially in that top five, depending on where these quarterbacks fall -- the top two quarterbacks in the draft and who's going to need quarterbacks. There could be a lot of activity that first day and especially those first three spots."